Bird Photography

﻿About Bird Photography

Over time, many birdwatchers move to bird photography. Just like birdwatching, bird photography involves spending lots of time in nature and observing birds in their natural surroundings. But in contrary to birdwatching, bird photography makes the experience memorable by capturing the birds in all their beauty on a camera.

Becoming a Bird Photographer

Anyone who loves nature and above all, birds can become a bird photographer. All you need is a quality camera (how to choose one is discussed in our article Choosing the Best Camera for Bird Photography), love for nature and lots of patience. Birds unfortunately aren’t easy to photograph for two reasons. Firstly, you can’t get them near and secondly, they are extremely fast which makes it very difficult to make good pictures.

Bird Photography Begins with Research

You can have the best camera in the world but it will be of no use if you don’t know where to find particular bird species. Bird habitats are well documented and you shouldn’t have any major difficulties locating birds which you would like to photograph. Finding the right tree, however, is a completely different story. As a result, it isn’t unusual for bird photographers to spend hours and sometimes even days just to make one good picture.

Since many bird photographers cannot afford to wait for days to finally spot the bird they are after, bird photography should always begin with a thorough research. It also helps to connect with other bird photographers, especially the experienced ones because they can give you lots of valuable information. Often, they also know exactly where to look for a particular species. Locals can offer valuable information as well, especially if you are going to a place you have never been before.

Bird Photography Requires Lots of Patience, Persistence and Luck Too

As mentioned earlier, birds are quite challenging to photograph because they won’t let you as near as you would like to and because they make very rapid movements. Capturing them on camera in the perfect moment takes a lot of patience and persistence. But you also need some luck and of course, a quality camera with quality lens, autofocus, high shutter speed and other features that usually come only with high-end cameras.

Getting Started

Just about everywhere where there are trees there are birds. This makes your garden or a local park an ideal place to start with bird photography. Although photographing sparrows or pigeons may not seem particularly tempting, it is very important to get a feeling for photographing birds and learn to use your camera properly before you travel to any distant locations. That way you will avoid disappointment for failing to make a single good photo after all the effort and time spent for locating the birds.